Sanya Richards-Ross, October 19, 2018, Delhi, India, photo by ProCam International
Sanya Richards-Ross, October 19, 2018, Delhi, India, photo by ProCam International
Speaking in the Indian capital New Delhi, where is a brand ambassador for Sunday’s Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, Richards-Ross – the fastest women’s 400m runner of the 21st century – commented: “For a long time I declined to answer that question (about whether there should be a revision of the records). I was in two minds and I listened to people, many of them historians, who said that the records shouldn’t be changed and I understand that point of view. However, as an athlete, I and others chased a record that wasn’t clean (Marita Koch’s world record of 47.60 from 1985) and that was very frustrating. I think it’s a great idea to revise the records. Choosing a date like 2000 would be good, although it may now seem a little weird to be choosing an arbitrary date like this, but I do think the IAAF should be proactive (on this issue).”
Runblogrun opines: Nice to see Sanya Richards-Ross comment on WRs. Again, her comment shows the challenges with choosing a date when to make WR’s retroactive. Paula Radcliffe set marathon WR in 2003, what does one do about that? Does anyone remember the comments from Jonathan Edwards, and Paula Radcliffe about the European AA suggested approach?
I wonder if we need to refer this to biblical jurist, Solomon. Perhaps there is time to consider record by record?